However: Would like a little bit more background here. Too much conspiracy theory going on now..

With the taxes here in Netherlands and the dollar/euro conversion this is a midd class car for a really reasonable price! Make a station wagen model and you are set to go at least here in NL. As a company car this would give you only 4% taxable value versus 22% for a diesel or electric car (% of the consumer value of the car you need to add to your income every year). Electric cars only have VAT and not the additional 45% or so uplift. In densly populated Netherlands (and for that matter a big part of Europe): Really good offer!

http://tech.co/top-15-alternat... Just to name a few on top of normal creditcards?

You could of course choose not to use it. This is a playing field with enough alternatives.

One word: Why?

As the code is real the rest of the movie now also must be real..........

If you think about it what has been happening here it is insane. Companies like Apple are getting into an effective tax range of 1-5% on their profit. The purpose of paying taxes is that you get a benefit out of it. I am happy to pay taxes as long as I then have very good roads, a good school system for my kids, decent healthcare, etc, etc. When you want to do business in a country and that country has a tax setup where companies also pay taxes in their profit, the pay it! It equalises the playing field for all and truly makes the competition fair. The better product, service, setup will win. In this case companies move money between countries by using the tax rules agains eachother. In the case of StarBucks the royalties on the brand and the profit on that are not taxable in Ireland. Profit in the UK on their actual operation are taxable in the UK. If I now increase my costbase by charging just enough royalties (the right to put starbucks on the window and use the brand) to make the profit close to zero......... we are all smart enough to do the math I presume. The rule should be that when you make profit in a country, you pay taxes in that country: Period! This way we all get an equal playingfield and companies actually start to contribute to the societies they are making a profit on. I am sure that with this system we will all benefit, including the companies themselves. Reply to This

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As it is only once I do it in a software project I will indulge any style that is requested.......

Bring it on!

I agree with the math right to the point where you made the money you earn equal to the amount of mass you launch. There is a base cost per launch and that makes the first "kilo" very expensive, but the last kilo very cheap. Its like saying a truck which can carry 40 tons will earn 2 times more money then a truck which carries only 20 tons. It all depends ( basic logistics ) on the size of the shipments you have and then a truck of 20 tons could be just perfect.

Somehow your logic does not add up. Fuel is nowadays a lot cheaper then a whole stage. Even if the payload goes down by a lot, it makes sense.

Elon and crew: Congrats! Can we now go to Mars?

YES, it is an issue and nobody even try to convince me otherwise! I need (a) Steve back whole will kill these "compromises" immediately!

Finally, they found a way to make my HBI (Human Brain Interface) possible. No more IBM model M for me! Where do I apply?

How about a combination? I can fully imagine that for a large part of the population (or for that matter area) an electric car would be absolutely great...... if you are close to the grid. When it comes to storing energy then maybe a pressurised canister of hydrogen will do the trick better if your not close to the grid or have no time to charge for a few hours. I can even imagine that we will see some kind of hybrid a.k.a. hydrogen storage/fuel cell for the "rapid deploy" and then a battery combined with it which can also be charged from the grid. Drive train and technology stays the same, it is only the energy generation (Fuelcell with hydrogen storage or Battery) which changes

i think the story gives the answer already, but it of course depends whether the company can carry the loss